Fighting City Hall

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Remember the guy who didn't want to sell his house to make way for a parking lot on the NW side? In the end, they let him stay.

Does anybody here know the appeal process for decisions made by the City Commission? I'd like to appeal the decision to allow nighttime construction on the highway right outside my window this upcoming April-Nov. At least one U2 condo owner went to the meeting re this, but it was practically last on the agenda and he had to leave before they brought the matter to a discussion/vote. Plus I simply cannot get downtown for these meetings.

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Remember the guy who didn't want to sell his house to make way for a parking lot on the NW side? In the end, they let him stay.

Does anybody here know the appeal process for decisions made by the City Commission? I'd like to appeal the decision to allow nighttime construction on the highway right outside my window this upcoming April-Nov. At least one U2 condo owner went to the meeting re this, but it was practically last on the agenda and he had to leave before they brought the matter to a discussion/vote. Plus I simply cannot get downtown for these meetings.

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I'm afraid that a formal appeal of the City Commission happens in circuit court.

You should contact either of the west side city commissioners and talk to them about your concerns. It would help if you could get a number of neighbors together for the meeting. They will help you if they can.

I have sat through a few of their deliberations on extended highway construction hours. They are difficult because of those who are directly affected. You may, however, find that the construction project can't be done in any other way.

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Remember the guy who didn't want to sell his house to make way for a parking lot on the NW side? In the end, they let him stay.

Does anybody here know the appeal process for decisions made by the City Commission? I'd like to appeal the decision to allow nighttime construction on the highway right outside my window this upcoming April-Nov. At least one U2 condo owner went to the meeting re this, but it was practically last on the agenda and he had to leave before they brought the matter to a discussion/vote. Plus I simply cannot get downtown for these meetings.

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It's sort of a "needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few" thing. That being said, I have seen compromises such as restricting weekend work, making sure lighting is contained (not glaring in your windows), certain types of construction (such as pile driving, etc.) waiting until daylight hours, etc.

It does not hurt to ask. As Civitas said, getting a commissioner to go to bat for you is a good idea.

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In this case michaelskis, Grand Rapids did have a night-work noise ordinance for which MDOT had to request a variance. There was a public hearing back on Oct. 17th, after it was originally brought to the city back in September.

You may want to brush up on the actual application and the variance that was granted before you contact anyone budgie:

Apparently there will be no pile-driving necessary for this portion of work according to MDOT. It's basically "Bridge Capital Preventative Maintenance" starting at US-131 and I-196 moving North to 6th Street, Leonard, Richmond, CSX and Ann Street; and then complete highway replacement Northbound from Ann Street to the North city line (much like what was done with Southbound 131 last year).

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The northbound US-131 rebuild will be from Ann St all the way up to North Park St. I believe some improvements will also be made to the US-131/I-96 "split" as part of the project. Work between West River Dr and 10 Mile Rd should get underway next year as well.

Bridge work scheduled for I-196 in 2007 includes westbound over Lane Ave (eastbound has already been repaired), Valley/Garfield Aves, Bridge St, Butterworth St, and the "abandoned Conrail Railway Corridor", which I believe refers to the bridges about 1/2 mile west of Market Ave.

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Bridge work scheduled for I-196 in 2007 includes westbound over Lane Ave (eastbound has already been repaired), Valley/Garfield Aves, Bridge St, Butterworth St, and the "abandoned Conrail Railway Corridor", which I believe refers to the bridges about 1/2 mile west of Market Ave.

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Most of the activity is pretty quiet, skill saws cutting plywood for forms, carpenters setting forms, iron workers placing rerod, air compressor running, concrete truck unloading, crane lifting material into place. Pile driving, if required, and demolition make up only a small portion of the work. Unless you are really close to a pile driver, it's just a "ka chunk - ka chunk" in the background. When they get close to bearing capacity it changes to a ka ching - ka ching". Then you know they're almost done with the pile. (I know too much infirmation) . I live behind Meijers on Alpine and if it was real quiet in the morning and no wind this summer I could hear the pile driver on Walker & I-96. I was probably the only one in the neighborhood that noticed becasue I knew what it was. The d**m kids with their car stereos with heavy bass make more noise than the pile driver and they go up and down the street every day & night

The crews typically don't make lots of noise at night just to irritate neighbors. Having said that, if the project gets behind, it's nice to have the flexibility to allow noise at night to get caught up. This time of year, it's iffy for pouring concrete. The contractors rebuilding I-196 over Ottawa and I-96 over the raiload out east are very fortunate they have 60 degree weather in late November They ideally should be done by November 1st.

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That was my first thought on the "abandoned Conrail Railway corridor" but then they would skip the Grand River brdges which need work. The old plaster mill spur was immediately adjacent to Butterworth so that's why I think that might be the location. Their next project would be the Grand River bridges and the next set of bridges with the remaining bridges in Grandville done with the Baldwin interchange. But I'm just guessing

By the way - I'm a highway guy too Local gov't highway agency here in Kent County and you?

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I work for one of the civil engineering firms here in GR. We do a lot of work for MDOT on a variety of projects in the region.

I think they may have done some repair work on the Grand River bridges just a few years ago, but I'm not completely sure since I was living in Lansing at the time. I seem to remember it being down to one lane in each direction for quite some time.